Mexico's Supreme Court Strikes Down Gay Marriage Ban

Already legal in Mexico City

Mexico's Supreme Court has ruled that a law in southern Oaxaca state that bans same-sex marriages is unconstitutional, paving the way for same-sex couples to marry in that state and possibly in the rest of Mexico.

In a unanimous decision on Wednesday, the tribunal struck down a Oaxaca state law that declares that "one of the purposes of marriage is the perpetuation of the species."

The court said in its ruling that to condition marriages to the union of one man and one woman "violates the principle of equality."